Beginning of a Merchant's Dream
by Ruthlyn
Summary: A young girl starts her life as a merchant only to find danger where there should be safety, and companionship from an equally unexpected source. First in the series.
1. A Novice's Dreams, Lost and Found

_A/N: I went back through the first story in the series and decided a few (and some large) changes were in order. And since I'm making big changes anyway, I'm going to change the chapter format quite a bit. The chapters will be longer, and therefore, there will be less of them. I will indicate at the beginning of each new chapter what old chapters it covers, so it can still correspond with the reviews, since I believe they will still be attached. Hope the changes only make the story better. Enjoy!_

* * *

**Old chapters: 1-4**

A cool summer breeze blew gently through the grass in the field as a young girl sat under a tree, eating an apple. She was deep in thought, dreaming about her plans for the next few days, and what she imagined she would encounter. She took one more bite of the apple she was eating, and then threw the core out into the long grass that surrounded her. Wiping her hands on her pants, she stood up and looked up at the cloudy sky, feeling the gentle breeze blow through her shoulder-length white hair. She realized she'd been sitting there under that tree too long and needed to continue on her journey.

She started walking, but only got a few yards before she remembered something very important and ran back to the tree she had taken her rest under. There she picked up the small brown box she had left behind. She couldn't forget that. After all, this box was the main reason Missy Kay was taking this journey northwest to Prontera, the capital city of Rune-Midgard.

As Missy continued on her way, she went over the words of the merchant guild leader once again in her mind. To prove that she was good enough to become a merchant like the others in the guild, she must show her responsibility by delivering a package to Prontera for him. And it was very important for her to become a merchant. Her mother was a very intelligent and powerful merchant who always sold the best wares; people would come from miles around to her shop in their hometown of Alberta. Her father was an incredibly skilled blacksmith who made powerful weapons. All of the strongest warriors in the land wielded one of his weapons. And he too had started out as a merchant.

Therefore, Missy knew she must take this trip from Alberta to Prontera, which was not exactly short, but Missy was determined to get there in less than the two days that her father said was an average time. She had not even been traveling for a half of a day yet, so she knew she had a little while to go yet. Her mother had given her a map and showed her the best paths to take. It was one of the shorter routes, and the safest for a young, inexperienced person like herself.

Looking at her map now, she saw that she'd soon be entering a sparse forest that was rather rocky and hilly. As soon as she entered the forest, she'd be further away from home then she'd ever been. She'd been out of the limits of Alberta before, whether she was picking apples from the few trees that grew them in the area, making sure not to drop one, or a pink, round poring would swallow it up quickly, or whether it was playing with the fluffy little white rabbits known as lunatics, she'd never gone into the forest. Her parents always said she wasn't ready before. But now, it was time for her to show how much she'd grown, how smart and strong she'd become. She just knew she had to be quiet and get through the small forest before dark, when the wolves would come out.

Walking up to the edge of the forest, Missy took a deep breath to calm her unsteady nerves and followed the barely worn path that led in amongst the trees. Looking around at her surroundings, she decided that there was nothing to be nervous about here. She could still see plenty of sunlight shining through the trees, and she even saw a few lunatics hopping around. She laughed at herself for ever being worried, and had to consciously restrain herself from skipping down the path. Suddenly she knew that her trip would go smoothly, and she allowed herself to enjoy her surroundings.

Soon enough, she was about halfway through the small forest, and she noticed that suddenly, she didn't see any lunatics around. No porings…not a single living creature in fact. Missy slowed down and listened hard, but she couldn't hear even the faintest sound of birds chirping. Nothing but the breeze in the trees and the crunching of her feet walking slowly down the narrow, overgrown path that had been leading her west.

"Hey." Though it was only a whisper, the sound of someone nearby made Missy jump a few feet. She looked around, but couldn't see a single person.

"You'd better run." The whisper came again, and this time, Missy could at least tell which direction it was coming from. She turned around to face the disembodied voice.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"You should run, straight north. Just don't follow the path west, whatever you do." Missy had heard of people with the ability to make themselves invisible, though she'd never dreamed of running into someone so soon. And she had no idea if this person could be trusted or not.

"Ohh…. you're just a novice too. It's going to eat you alive…"

In spite of her best efforts to stay calm, Missy could feel her heart pounding faster in her chest. "I don't understand. What are you talking about; why should I run?"

The voice did not respond, and Missy suddenly heard a howl behind her, not all that far away.

"But, I thought—it's still afternoon, what—"

Suddenly, a red-haired boy appeared where there had only been a voice before. "It doesn't matter why. Look, I can hide from it, but you have to run, now!" The boy looked over Missy's shoulder and froze. "Get behind me slowly," he whispered to her.

Missy could barely breathe as she stepped forward and walked around the boy to stand behind him. Only then did she get her first look at the snarling blue wolf. It was larger than Missy even imagined it, and very formidable. There were about five smaller, more grayish-blue wolves behind it. The smaller wolves were growling and biting at each other, but the head wolf was standing still, staring straight at the boy in front of Missy.

"Listen," the boy said, so low Missy had to strain to hear, never taking his eyes off of the wolf. "When I give the word, just back away slowly, and head north through the trees, staying off the path. As soon as you're out of sight, **RUN**, and don't stop until you're out of the woods completely. I will keep it here as long as possible, but if it attacks, I have to hide, and you have to be out of its sight, or it'll come after you. Understand?"

Missy swallowed hard and nodded. She clutched the small box that she'd almost forgot she was holding, glad for the moment to have something else to focus on other than her fear. She waited a few seconds, each one crawling by like an eternity. Finally, the boy said, in a low, barely audible voice, "Go."

Missy started backing up, not yet willing to take her eyes off of that wolf, though it was staring very intently, with teeth bared, back at the boy. Still moving slowly, she turned and started heading north, practically tiptoeing off of the path and into the meager woods, wishing now that the forest was denser to provide her more cover. With every step she took, concentrating on taking them slowly so as not to attract the wolves' attention to herself, she feared hearing the snarling right behind her.

After about thirty seconds, Missy looked back to see to her relief that she could not see the red-haired boy or the blue wolves. She quickened her step considerably, listening for sounds of being followed. At first, all she could hear was the sound of her own footsteps over the grass, twigs, and leaves. Just then she heard a snarl that was not near as close as she'd been afraid it would be. It was followed by a brief, bright flash of light that she could only just see through the trees, and a sound that was almost like the high-pitched whine of a strong wind, but it only lasted a second, and there was definitely no breeze. Missy realized that the wolf must have attacked the boy, causing him to hide, and she knew there was nothing left for her to do but run. And run she did, as fast as she could, hoping with everything inside her that the wolf didn't hear her through the woods. After running for a few minutes, she knew she couldn't be very far from the edge of the forest, and though her chest burned and her legs felt like rubber, she had no intention of stopping until she got there.

Finally, she could see a clearing ahead that seemed to open into a large meadow. When she reached it and came from the shade of the trees into the full sun, she still couldn't let herself stop. She ran another thirty feet before she felt she was far enough away from the forest to be safe. There, amongst the tall grass, weeds, and wild flowers, she fell to her knees and carefully placed her box on the ground in front of her. She closed her eyes and realized how lucky she was that the red-haired boy had been in the woods. She only wished she had gotten his name so she could one day thank him.

After Missy had been sitting a few minutes, she felt her stomach growling. She hadn't realized how long it had been since she'd had that last apple, but she knew she was hungry. Her mother had packed a few things to eat, but she had to be careful not to eat it all too soon. She decided to check her map and see how far she'd come and how much she had left still. She felt around in her small pack that only had room for the little bit of food and her map, but not enough for the box she was delivering, which she therefore had to carry separately. She couldn't find the map at first, so she opened the pack wider and looked inside. She then pulled everything out of it, placing it carefully around her on the ground. The map was nowhere to be found. She could only think she must have dropped it when she was running, perhaps because she didn't replace it very well after looking at it before entering the forest. She could not imagine being able to find her way to Prontera now, especially without running into any more creatures that would try to attack her. She sat for a few more minutes before deciding that this really was a true test, a way to show that she could handle whatever she might face as a merchant.

Missy heard movement in the grass a few feet away and looked over to see the top of a pink blob heading toward her. "My food!" she cried out loud, hurrying to pick up what she had laid around her in search of her missing map. The pink poring got within a few inches of Missy, then stopped, noticing there was nothing left for it to swallow up.

Happy that she'd saved her only food, thus avoiding another potential disaster, Missy picked up her box and pack and stood up. She knew she had to go northwest to get to Prontera from Alberta, so she decided to keep heading north for now, and hope to find someone along the way who could give her a more detailed idea of how to get to Prontera. In her determination to turn this possible setback around, she completely forgot how hungry she had been.

Starting to walk again, she noticed the different creatures around her now. Porings, lunatics, the little, green worm-like fabres, and colorful butterflies known as creamies, all could be found in the meadow she was now walking in. Seeing such familiar animals as she was used to helped Missy feel even better about her situation. She headed north and eventually came upon a hill, which she started up. It was not too high, and once she reached the top, she stopped, hoping to see something, anything, that would show her where to go from here.

What she saw made her heart skip a beat. It was better than she could have hoped for. She saw a lot of trees, and what looked like some sort of structure or building hidden in those trees. She was so excited, hoping she could find someone there who could help her. She also noticed a few apple trees between where she was standing on the hill and that wall. Reminded of the hunger again, she decided to pick a few to eat on the way.

Straight in front of Missy, the hill ended in a drop off. She was only a few feet above the ground below, and too anxious to find a gentler slope down, so she just jumped, landing a little harder than she'd expected. Unfazed, she made sure she hadn't dropped anything, and hurried over to one of the nearest apple trees, pulling off the first apple she saw. She wiped it briefly on her sleeve, then took a large bite.

"Blech!" Missy immediately spit out the piece of apple. She examined the apple to find that part of it was green—the apple was unripe. She threw it a few feet away on the ground and looked up to find a different apple. Checking each one carefully this time, she found two that were a beautiful deep red. Then, noticing movement out of the corner of her eye, she looked down to see a poring where the unripe apple had landed. It looked up at her, and she could almost imagine its expression being that of expectation of more food from this stranger. Though she'd always just thought of the pink blobs as nuisances before, requiring her to be especially careful not to drop anything when one was nearby, she couldn't help but laugh at this particular poring.

"Sorry," she said, "These apples are mine." She sat down, for once not being too bothered that she couldn't set her box or apples down next to her for the poring to steal. Besides, she knew it would just hop away eventually anyway, like they all did. However, as she sat there taking bites of one of her juicy apples, the poring simply sat there the whole time, sometimes watching her, other times looking around or up at the tree, but never moving from the spot.

Deciding to save the second apple until she'd discovered what that structure was, she stood back up, stretching just a bit. As she started toward the building, she looked back to see the poring right behind her. "What do you want?" she asked it. "I have no food for you." She took a few more steps, still looking behind her. It followed her step for step. She stopped and knelt down next to the poring, looking it straight in the eyes. "You can't come with me; it's too dangerous, and I have nothing for you." She really had no idea if the poring could understand a single thing she said, but she didn't really know what else to do. She didn't want to spend anymore time here in this field, she wanted to go see what that building was. She stood back up, deciding to just ignore the poring; she knew it would leave in time, when it saw she wasn't feeding it anymore.

From where she'd seen the mystery structure compared to these trees from back on the hill, she estimated it to be only ten yards or so from where she stood. She started out walking at first, then started jogging, and next thing she knew, she was running. After just a few feet, the wall came into view. As she grew closer, she could see that it was actually a large doorway around a huge brown gate. _There has to be someone here who can help me_, she thought to herself, feeling more relieved by the moment.

The gate was wide open, and she walked through it, seeing a river on the other side. Leading directly from the gate was a bridge that spanned the river. And across that bridge was the best of all – what appeared to be a town. From just inside the first gate, Missy could see a long wall on the left side, which connected to a second gate in front of her, across the bridge. And on the other side, the wall extended about 10 feet and stopped, and beyond it were a few buildings of different sizes.

Missy could barely hope she could have already found Prontera. She knew it didn't make sense from what she remembered of her map, and she also knew there was at least one town closer to Alberta than Prontera. The point was, it was a town, and she just knew there would be someone there who could help her, even if it was just to give her a map to Prontera. She took her first steps on the bridge, feeling for the first time that she was really earning her future title as merchant.


	2. Greenwood Forest

**Old chapters: 5-8**

"Reds! 42 zeny! Get 'em here!"

"Where did you get that hat? It's beautiful!"

"Oh, I need some of those! Where's my bag..."

"Does anyone have some arrows I can buy?"

Merchants, consumers, warriors, healers. The town was full of all sorts of people going about their normal routines--buying, selling, chatting--whatever they did when they weren't out in the dungeons and fields battling or adventuring. And in the midst of all of it was a young girl, looking completely lost and confused. This place was far different from her hometown of Alberta. The only time she'd ever seen so many people at once was when her father revealed his new design of a sword he'd made, and all of the strongest warriors in the land came to see it demonstrated and buy one for themselves.

Looking around, Missy saw many people dressed in clothing that she didn't recognize. One woman was wearing the most beautiful cape she'd ever seen, and carrying an ornately decorated wand. Missy realized now how little she knew about the world outside her hometown.

She was standing just inside of the tall wall that surrounded some of the town, and decided she needed to find someone who looked friendly and not too busy to help an inexperienced person like herself.

Looking around for friendly faces, she noticed one tall boy who couldn't have been a lot older than herself sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree, looking very relaxed, watching all the people go by. He looked mostly bored really, and while he didn't look all that inviting of a conversation, he was the first person the girl could see who didn't look deep in the middle of something, so she walked over and stood beside him.

"Excuse me, my name's Missy Kay, and I--" she started, but was interrupted when the boy suddenly spoke.

"Awesome," he breathed, mostly to himself. Missy followed his gaze and saw a large, muscular man wearing a lot of armor, sitting on top of a large, brightly-colored, saddled bird.

Not really sure if the boy would even notice her talking this time, she said, "Which, the guy, or the bird?"

"The knight," he said, startling her again by responding. "They're the strongest warriors in Rune-Midgard."

Missy looked more carefully at the boy and noticed that he was wearing a little armor himself, though not near as much as the knight. She didn't know a lot about the world outside of Alberta, but she'd seen enough even in her hometown to know that he was a swordsman.

"I take it that's why you chose that path?" she asked.

"Of course," he said. Finally looking up at Missy, he mused dismissively, "Hm, novice," then turned and looked back at the knight.

Missy felt a bit indignant. "So what? That's not so bad."

The boy didn't respond. Missy was not one to be insulted and let it go. Just as she was about to show the boy that her being a novice didn't make her any less important than anyone else, a round, pink object hopped from behind Missy, between her legs, and into the boy's lap.

He jumped up, startled, and it fell to the ground. "What was that? A poring...in town?"

The poring looked up at Missy, and she gasped as she recognized the same look on its face as the one she'd met outside. "It followed me in?" She couldn't believe it, even as she said it.

The young swordsman started laughing and bent over to pat the poring on the head. "Guess it's kinda cute, just like a little beanbag. I've never seen one in town before though. I guess it likes you."

Missy shook her head. "I don't even know..." At a loss for words, she trailed off. The boy straightened back up and looked more closely at Missy.

"What's with the box?" he questioned, gesturing towards the package she held in her hands.

"Oh! Yeah, see, that's why I came over to talk to you, and I got distracted. I'm--" Somehow, she couldn't bring herself to tell this stranger that she was lost, so she took a moment to rethink what she would say to him. "I need to get to Prontera. I had a map to show the safest way there, but I dropped it in the forest."

The boy looked at her for a moment, then casually pointed his thumb toward the western wall of the city.

Feeling slightly annoyed, Missy protested, "I know that much. Prontera is northwest of Alberta, anyone knows that at least."

The swordsman stood for a moment before clarifying, "You're not from Payon?"

Missy shook her head and repeated, "Alberta."

"Payon officials closed down the main path to that town days ago. The only other way to get through is far too dangerous for a novice; it's even too dangerous for me. How long have you been here in town?"

"I haven't--I mean, I only just got here. Which path did they close down? I didn't remember seeing any notices in Alberta."

"No, there wouldn't be yet. The officials sent the message to Alberta only last night, and the party they sent had to go the long way around. With the distance, and the monsters they'd have to fight off...Well, they should be there soon now." He looked at Missy more carefully now. "So you're telling me you came here just today by the forest path?" When Missy nodded, he said, "That must mean they're gone then."

"'They'?" she repeated. "You mean the wolves maybe?"

"Yeah," he answered. "So you do know about it?"

"Only because I saw some when I went through. But it was daytime, so I had wondered why they were out."

"You saw some? They didn't attack you?"

Missy looked down at the ground for a few seconds before replying. "They would have, but there was a boy...he saved me. Distracted the wolves and then hid when I was far enough away."

The swordsman nodded. "A thief. What I wouldn't give to have that ability. So, you came from Alberta on your way to Prontera for something to do with that box?"

"Yes! I keep forgetting! I need to get to Prontera to deliver this box for the Merchant Guild in Alberta. To prove that I am worthy to join them."

"You're going to be a merchant then. Well, it's nowhere near as good as a swordsman, but I have seen some merchants swing a mighty strong axe before."

"Oh no, no axes for me. My father makes swords, stronger and more powerful than you can imagine. I intend to use those like any swordsman or knight would."

"You know, the famous blacksmith Bramen lives in Alberta. I'd love to have a sword he made."

"That's my father."

The boy tried to contain his excitement as he said, "So, after you go to Prontera, you'll need to get back to Alberta too, right?" Missy nodded, and he continued, "With those wolves out there, that could be difficult."

Missy shrugged. "I have to get to Prontera first, I'll worry about the other part later. Maybe I'll find someone strong to help me go the other route. Or maybe the wolves will be gone by then. None of it matters if I can't find a safe route to Prontera."

The swordsman was silent for a moment, then offered, "I can take you to Prontera. I'll even help you get back to Alberta later."

Missy had a feeling this had something to do with her father, but she felt she couldn't pass up at least the opportunity to have an escort to Prontera. As for the trip back, the boy had already said the alternate route from Payon to Alberta would be dangerous even for him, so she knew she'd have to find another answer then. But for now...

"I suppose going with you would be alright," she replied. She'd no sooner gotten the words out of her mouth than he was heading toward the western wall. "Wait!" she cried, running after him.

He stopped and turned around, looking slightly annoyed. "What is it?"

"You could at least tell me your name. I'm Missy Kay."

"Naolin," he said before turning and walking away again.

"Well, I can see this trip is going to be a lot of fun," Missy muttered to herself, jogging after him.

By the time Missy caught up with her new traveling companion, he'd left the town through a doorway in the western wall. As she stepped through the same doorway, she saw a beautiful and sad scene. What looked to have once been a dense forest was now just a few trees interspersed among a wide expanse of burned stumps. To her left and right, many yards away, stood two tall brick buildings, castles that looked mostly untouched by whatever tragedy befell the forest around them.

"What is this place?" Missy asked Naolin, who had stopped just a few yards away from the doorway they'd just walked through.

The boy stood with his back to her for a few moments before answering, "Greenwood Forest was once so thick and dark, one could not see to find their way through. It was said that there were fierce monsters in the forest, but few dared enter to find out, and those who did and made it out alive couldn't say for sure. All they could really describe were the sounds they heard when they were running for their lives. Fire, spells, one acolyte even used Holy Light to try to light up the forest, but the darkness is too thick. I had planned to go myself one day, gather up a strong party and lead them into the heart of the forest. I know I could have survived, maybe even brought a few monster hides out with me."

"But there was a fire before you could try," Missy guessed.

He finally turned towards Missy. "It was a terrible fire; all of the men of Payon worked for days to get it under control. They sent messengers to Prontera and Alberta to ask for help. Men from Prontera worked on the fire from the other side and Alberta helpers battled the blaze with us from this side. By the time they met in the middle, most of the forest was decimated.

"These castles," he waved his hand in the direction of one of them, "no one even knew they existed before the trees were gone. There are five total. There's even a small lake behind that one," he pointed to Missy's left.

Missy noticed Naolin absently rubbing his left shoulder with his opposite hand. "Are you hurt?" she asked.

He took his hand away quickly and shook his head. "No, it's...nothing."

The thought struck her from nowhere, and Missy guessed, "You tried to help."

Naolin looked at her sharply, then nodded his head. "They just kept telling me I was too young, but I knew they were wrong. They needed my help as much as all the others. Anyway, my sleeve didn't catch until it was almost all over." He brought his hand up again to touch his shoulder. "It's mostly healed now." He turned back around and said flatly, "We should get going if we want to reach the outer edge of Sograt Desert before dark."

As Missy started after him, she looked at the castle to her right. Some movement in a window on the upper floor caught her eye. A shadowy figure stood in the frame for a moment before moving away. It really didn't look human… She shuddered and caught up to walk next to Naolin.

"So, what happened to all of the monsters?" she questioned, not really sure she wanted to know.

"Hm?" Naolin grunted absently.

"The monsters that were supposedly in the forest?" she clarified, frustrated at his distant reply. "What happened to them during the fire?"

Naolin sighed. "At first, we didn't see any monsters. Some had always said that the reports of evil monsters in the woods were just delusions of people who had been in the complete dark too long and had gone mad. A few men did claim to see monsters running around in the flames, but they were said to also be delusional from the heat."

Missy winced as she anticipated what horror was coming next.

"After the fire was out, eventually people wanted to explore the castles. They intrigued me to no end as well. The city officials put together a formal party to investigate one. I waited so anxiously for them to return, hoping an all-clear report would lead the officials to allow more people to explore the other buildings, a task I was eager to sign up for. Only one man returned, badly injured. A rescue mission was quickly mounted to retrieve the men left behind, to see if anything could be done to help them, but the survivor begged them not to. He said there were more monsters than he'd ever seen in one place, and that the men would be beyond any aid. The rescuers were sent anyway, and came back a few hours later one man short."

Naolin stopped walking as they came into view of another castle. "No one knows if the monsters lived in the castles all along, or, more likely, if they fled there when their home was burning. But a few things we do know: they're brutal and malicious, there is a wide variety of species, and just as they would never leave the pitch-darkness of the forest, they don't seem to want to leave the castles for the new wide-open expanse outside. Someday, our town will mount a huge offensive on those castles, one at a time, and we'll clear them all out. I'll be right there at the front of the party."

Naolin looked unhappy now, and Missy regretted asking so many questions. And more importantly, knowing what was in those castles, in every corner of the so-called forest she was walking through, caused her to want to leave as quickly as possible.

"I'm really sorry I made you go through all of that," Missy said softly. "My parents always told me I'm too curious."

"It's fine," he muttered sullenly, and started walking again.


	3. Edge of the Desert

**Old chapters: 8-11**

Missy walked behind him silently, feeling like she'd upset this new acquaintance enough for one day. With no conversation between the two, they walked faster, and in no time, they'd reached the edge of the once dense, dark forest. The sun was not far from setting now, as they entered a clearing that was home to only a few tall trees, and some small birds hopping around on the ground.

"We're close to the edge of the desert," Naolin pointed out. "We'll rest there for the night, when we can still gather firewood from the trees around here."

Missy just nodded and continued following him. She was starting to feel quite hungry, but did not want to bug him again. She could wait until they stopped for the night. Only a few minutes more and Naolin stopped. As she came to stand next to him, she saw the sand stretch in front of her for much farther than she could see in the dim light. What she could see, however, was how beautiful the setting sun was in the desert horizon. Such a spectacular array of reds, pinks, and purples that she'd never seen before.

"Amazing," she breathed.

Naolin looked over at her for just a second before instructing, "Let's gather some wood. Look near the tress, there's always branches around them on the ground." Missy nodded and pulled her pack off her back and laid it on the ground, next to her small box. "Hey!" he called as he walked away toward a group of trees. "Watch out for snakes. They won't hurt you unless you attack first, but don't let one startle you."

"Great," she muttered to herself. She walked in the opposite direction, to a pair of trees she saw nearby and started wading through the tall grass beneath them. Finding a couple of thicker branches, she started piling them in her arms. Seeing no more right away, she stooped over to push the grass aside and find more.

Suddenly, she heard a rustling in the grass to her right, and froze. _Just a snake_, she thought to herself. _Won't attack me unless I strike first._

She started to back away slowly, deciding to find another tree to hunt around. The noise grew louder, and only increased the further away she moved. In spite of her best efforts to stay calm, she let out a short cry and ran a few feet away, at least keeping her presence of mind to keep the few sticks she'd gathered so far in her arms.

Hearing Missy's distress, Naolin ran over and dropped the wood he held in his arms, pulling out his sword that Missy realized that she'd never noticed until now. He stood half in front of Missy, on his guard, waiting for an unseen energy to emerge.

"Was it a snake?" he asked frantically, looking around. Considering the current situation with the wolves, he'd not be too surprised to find a snake attack them unprovoked.

"I don't know," Missy whispered. "I didn't see anything."

"What? Didn't see—" just as he let down his guard and turned to look at Missy, a small creature burst out of the tall grass, jumping straight into Missy's arms on top of the few branches she was holding. She screamed and turned her face away instinctively, dropping her arms down, and losing the branches as well as the creature.

Naolin raised his sword, ready to attack the monster. After a few seconds, Missy heard Naolin laughing and looked back over at him. He'd lowered his sword and was even using it to lean on as he laughed. Missy looked down at her feet to see what she'd been so afraid of, only to find what she'd least expected. That same poring from the field south of Payon had seemingly followed them all the way out here.

"This-this is unbelievable," she stammered. Naolin nodded in agreement, still laughing. "Why would a poring be following me around?"

Naolin finally stopped laughing and took a deep breath. "Like I said, it must like you," he said amusedly. "What did you do, feed it or something?"

Missy shook her head. "No, I never fed it anything, there was just an unripe apple that I picked; I threw it on the ground, and this poring ate it…oh…"

Naolin chuckled. "I think you just might be stuck with the beanbag for a while. At least until it sees you won't feed it anymore."

Missy shrugged. "I don't have anything to feed it anyway."

"Well, bring the couple of sticks you had over to where you left your stuff. I found quite a few, we should have enough for just tonight."

Naolin walked away, and Missy grumbled to herself as she reached down to pick up her branches. "I would have had plenty more if it weren't for…" she looked at the poring, which just sat and looked back with an expression of expectation. She shook her head and walked over to where her things were, noticing that the poring followed close behind.

After Naolin had come back and started the fire, Missy sat down on the hard ground and picked up her bag. Her stomach was making rather unhappy sounds, and she figured it should be ok to eat now. Right on top was the second apple she'd picked south of Payon. She pulled it out and reached a little further inside for a piece of bread and a banana. Naolin sat a few yards away from her, having gotten the fire to a size of his liking.

Missy cleared her throat to get his attention. No response. "Naolin?" He looked at her without a word. She held the apple and bread out to him. "Would you like something to eat?"

He shook his head and stared back at the fire. _He probably hasn't eaten in as long as me,_ she guessed, as she peeled her banana. She closed her pack and laid it on the ground between them, and then placed the apple on top. "If you want it," she offered. No response from Naolin. _Sure is a stubborn one_, she mused to herself, as she ate her banana in silence.

As she was about to start in on her bread, she noticed Naolin pick up the apple. She smiled to herself, then tore her bread in half and placed a piece of it on the bag where the apple had been.

Careful not to let him notice that she was looking, Missy watched Naolin out of the corner of her eye as he cut a small piece of his apple off and dropped it on the ground near the poring. _How sweet_, she thought, surprised at the act. He glanced over at her, and she quickly occupied herself with her bread.

They both ate in silence for a while, eating and staring into the fire. Missy became completely lost in her thoughts, dreaming of her future days as a merchant and whatever may come later. She could become a blacksmith someday, like her father. She'd helped him in his shop before, it might be fun to learn how to make swords, maces, axes, even spears with her own mark on them. Or, she could follow in her mother's footsteps. She was the most famous merchant in Alberta, which is saying something in the merchant guild's hometown. Besides her husband's weapons, she sold everything a warrior or adventurer needed on their journey.

In spite of how much she admired her parents though, she couldn't see herself becoming exactly what either of them was. There was a third option she could think of. She'd met a few blacksmiths who, unlike her dad, used their strength to battle, fight monsters, defend their towns. She'd even heard that a city called Geffen had two blacksmiths in their town guard. Missy had so far had only a limited taste of battle, but she could imagine being a strong warrior someday, astounding people by showing them how strong a merchant could really be. _Well, I suppose I'd have to be a blacksmith by then_, she contemplated silently.

Missy was startled out of her thoughts when Naolin cleared his throat. She looked over at him. "Thanks for the food," he said, looking at her for only a second.

"Think nothing of it," she replied.

He was silent again for a few more moments before observing, "You seem a lot older than most novices I've seen."

Missy thought for a few seconds, then nodded. "I was not able to complete my novice training in the amount of time most do. Not too long after I first became a novice, taking my first steps into adventuring and battling monsters, my father became violently ill. He was unable to work for months, and almost died. Even after the sickness left him, he was weak for years. He was able to make his weapons, but not as many as he once could, and only with my mother or me, sometimes both, helping him in his shop. My training had to be put off until he was once again strong enough to work without as much help. Even now, he cannot make as many weapons in the same amount of time as he used to. I'm probably lucky that I was even able to finish my training and go on to become a merchant as I am now. My mother would simply not hear of me giving up my dreams and my chance to explore the land of Rune-Midgard. So here I am, probably almost as old as you, getting a late start."

"Wow," Naolin simply stated, obviously not sure of what else to say.

Missy nodded slowly, agreeing with the response.

Silence once again fell between them, and eventually Missy's body started to feel the fatigue of a long, tiring day. She pulled her bag over and laid her head down on it. She lay on her back and started up at the stars, thinking about the big day ahead of her. To her, Payon had been pretty crowded; she could hardly imagine what Prontera, the capital city, must be like. While dreaming about the adventure the city would bring, Missy eventually fell asleep.

* * *

Hours later, Missy opened her eyes to see a dark, gray sky. She sat up and shivered, wishing she'd thought to wear some thicker clothes, or at least bring a jacket.

"Kinda cold this morning," she heard, and turned around to see Naolin coming toward her from the direction of the forest.

She stood up quickly. "Have you been awake long?" The last thing she wanted was to make this boy wait on her while she slept the morning away.

"No, no, I've only been up for a few minutes myself. I was just looking around for something to eat. It's actually still pretty early, you just can't tell for all the clouds." He looked up at the sky. "I guess we should start going before it rains."

Missy reached back down and picked up her bag. "Wait. You said you wanted something to eat, right?"

"You've got more food?" he looked impressed.

She pulled out two bananas, handed one to Naolin, then started peeling her own. "This is all, though. We'll have to buy more for the trip back."

Naolin thanked her as he started peeling his own banana. "Let's get going; we can eat on the way." He turned and started walking into the desert they'd camped on the edge of.

"Of course," she replied, quickly picking up her box and following him. She noticed the poring hadn't abandoned them yet; it was hopping along next to her. She couldn't help but chuckle lightly, then break off a small piece of her banana and drop it on the ground, which the poring quickly swallowed up.

Missy and Naolin walked in silence for a few hours, and at first, Missy enjoyed the scenery, having never been to the desert before. When she saw some green far ahead though, she was happy to be returning to grass and trees again. She found the desert to be rather boring, at least what she'd seen of it today anyway. They'd only even passed a few people in the sands, all of whom barely looked their way.

They finally reached the edge of the desert, which was still just a large field with sparse grass growing in sandy soil. But there were also quite a few trees, and a few patches of thick, tall grass. As they walked further into the field, she could see a huge wall that spanned almost farther than she could see in either direction, because of the trees that lined it.

Naolin stopped next to a tall, rocky outcropping, not more than 30 yards from a huge doorway in the tall wall. Missy couldn't even see in through the doorway; there were so many people milling about outside.

"Prontera," Naolin informed her, pointing toward the crowd. Not that she really needed him to tell her that; she'd more than assumed that already. "I need to head over to Izlude," he pointed southeast toward a bridge that spanned a small creek; on the other side was a town that Missy had hardly noticed. "That is the home of the swordsman guild, and I need a few supplies and some new armor. I'll be back here well before nightfall. I figure we'll just stay in the inn here tonight, and get an early start tomorrow." He walked off in the direction of the smaller town before Missy could respond.


	4. Dead Branches

**Old chapters: 12-15**

Alone again, she turned and headed toward Prontera, clutching her box anxiously. Without thinking, she looked down for the poring, but it was nowhere to be seen. _Guess It's finally left_, she thought, almost sadly. She walked through the crowd outside the entrance and through the doorway into the city. She stopped and looked around in amazement. It was hard to believe that she'd thought Payon was crowded. Merchants lined both sides of the street she was standing on, and the street itself was filled with people of all classes walking, shopping, talking, and a few even just sitting, doing nothing in particular.

The first thing Missy really noticed upon walking into Prontera, though, was not the number of people so much as the noise; it was so loud! She could not believe the roar made by all the voices and things going on in this town.

Concentrating on her main task here, Missy looked around near the inside of the wall around the city for a Prontera guide, which she'd been told would be there. Sure enough, she saw a woman wearing a brown uniform, with a tall brown hat atop her head. Missy walked up to the woman. With the noise around her, Missy worried she might not hear her, so she made sure to talk loudly.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" She started at how loud her voice had come out, and only with the contrast of that did she realize that the noise of the city, while rather loud, was not near as bad as she'd made it in her mind.

"Yes, miss?" the guard responded, looking slightly amused.

Though embarrassed, Missy knew she needed this information. "Can you please tell me how to get to the old swordsman guild building?" This is where Missy needed to go to find the person awaiting delivery of the box she carried.

"Of course, miss. It's not far. Just follow the wall here in that direction," she pointed to the east as she pulled a map out of her uniform pocket. "Back near the corner, when you meet up with a smaller road," she pointed to a spot on the map, "that road will end at a building. That is the old swordsman guild house."

"Thank you," Missy said, then was hit with a thought. "And could you also show me where the inn is on this map?" She did so, and Missy thanked her again.

She followed the guard's instructions, and there was a building right where she'd indicated. The signpost out front was lacking its sign, so she could not quite verify that this was the right building. A woman walked out the front door and stopped when she saw Missy.

"Hello," the woman greeted her. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I have a package to deliver for the merchant's guild in Alberta."

The woman clapped her hands together. "Oh, great! I wasn't expecting you so soon! You must be Missy Kay?" Missy nodded and handed her the box. The woman opened it and glanced inside, then smiled and pulled a piece of paper out of her apron pocket, scribbled something on it, and held it out for Missy. "I was told you'd need a receipt, verifying the package's safe delivery."

Missy took the paper. "Yes, thank you."

The woman nodded, then walked back inside the building. Missy looked at the paper, which read, _Package delivered by Missy Kay. Early delivery, box in great shape, contents perfect. Strongly recommended for merchant class._

Missy smiled to herself and folded the paper, carefully putting it in her bag. She made sure to place it on the bottom, so it wasn't in danger of falling out as her map had yesterday, then set off to explore Prontera.

She started walking along the road that led back to the building she'd just visited, and followed it northwest. It ended in a wall around the inner part of Prontera, and a forked road, which gave her the option of now heading north or west. She noticed how few people she saw out away from the main north-south running road. She decided to head north now, knowing that west would lead her right back to the amazingly crowded entrance street. Eventually she came to an intersection. To her right was a street leading through another arched doorway, outside of the city. Left led her through a similar doorway into central Prontera. She headed left, which was also the direction of the inn, according to her map, and observed that the street here was also rather crowded.

She walked past a few merchants selling different flavored juices out of their carts, and then noticed what looked like water ahead. As she got closer, she walked into a large courtyard with a beautiful fountain in the center. Numerous people stood, sat, and walked around it. Missy walked up to it, reached out, and put her hand in the water, feeling its coolness. Then she noticed a few ripples in the water and realized it was starting to rain.

_I'd say this is a good time to check out the inn_, she thought, and headed west out of the courtyard. The building was not far, and she ducked inside just as the clouds fully opened up.

"Guess I'm not the only one who had that idea," she said as she saw the crowd inside, many of them shaking water out of their clothes or drying their hair. A few of them chuckled at her remark.

She waited at the counter for only a few minutes before a clerk came over to help her.

"I need a room for tonight, please," Missy requested, reaching to pull some zeny out of a small inner pocket in her bag.

The clerk held up his hand quickly. "Prontera Inn policy – Novices stay free."

"Well, thank you, that's very kind," Missy said with a smile.

The clerk nodded and returned the smile. After Missy had filled out a few lines of info on a paper he'd handed her, the clerk gave her a large, metal key with a number painted on it. She thanked him and went to find her room. It was just a small space, enough room for a bed and a table. There was another door, which led to a tiny bathroom, simply containing the basics as well.

Missy tossed her nearly empty bag onto the bed and filled the basin in the bathroom with water from the tub, washing her face and arms. She thought about just taking a bath now, to wash all that sand and dirt away from her night on the ground and trek through the desert. A glance out the window made her decide against that, however, when she noticed that the rain had already stopped. The sky was still dark and threatening, but Missy couldn't let her first trip to the capital city be ruined by some rain.

She picked up her pack and headed back to the lobby. The crowd there had thinned out considerably, but there were still a few people sitting in the handful of wooden chairs against the wall. Missy was just about to walk out the door when she realized she recognized someone sitting in one of the chairs. It was a boy, a bit older than herself, with red hair.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, walking over to him.

He looked up, startled, then smiled. "It's you."

"I was hoping to see you again sometime. I never got the chance to thank you for helping me in the woods yesterday."

The boy stood up. He was a good foot taller than her. "Oh hey, don't mention it." His smile widened. "It's a pleasure to help such a pretty girl."

Missy blushed. She'd never been complimented that way before. "Well, it was still very kind of you. I wish there was some way I could repay you."

"Is this your first time in Prontera?" When Missy nodded, he continued, "Let me be the first to show you around, and we'll call it even."

Missy smiled. "Ok, sounds great!"

The boy then introduced himself with a slight bow of the head. "I am Blackthore."

"My name's Missy Kay." The boy grinned again, then gestured for her to walk out the door ahead of him, which she did.

Blackthore took her to many fascinating places around the city. First, the Prontera chivalry, where she enjoyed watching a young man become a knight. They visited the city hall building, then the Prontera castle. Missy was surprised how deserted the castle seemed to be, but she imagined that the rooms they weren't allowed into were full of busy city officials working on important matters.

The sanctuary was next on their tour, where a wedding had just ended. Missy and Blackthore didn't stay long; she felt slightly uncomfortable, as if they were intruding on these strangers' magical moment.

By the time they left the church, it was after noon, and it was starting to rain lightly again. Missy had enjoyed her morning with her new friend so far. They walked back to the fountain in the center of town just as it started to rain lightly again, and Blackthore asked if she was hungry. Remembering how early breakfast had been that morning, Missy nodded.

"Come on, I'll buy you lunch then," Blackthore offered with that grin that had barely left his face all day since she'd met him.

He took her to the pub and they enjoyed a wonderful meal, during which Missy learned that Blackthore's home was in Morroc, but he'd been journeying all over the southern half of the country since he'd become a thief. He was in Prontera for a few days to restock and explore the fields surrounding it.

"So, anything special you'd like to see next?" he asked when they were both done eating.

"How about some shops," she suggested, eyes gleaming.

Blackthore laughed. "Wait, let me guess. You're going to be a merchant."

Missy nodded. "I've heard you can find items in Prontera that you'd see nowhere else. Also, I'd like to buy some food for tomorrow."

"Shopping it is then." Blackthore paid for their meal and he and Missy left the pub. It was still drizzling outside, but the air was not too chilly, and the streets were still quite crowded. They walked southwest across the main north-south road, and Blackthore pointed out a couple of stands selling fruit and vegetables.

"And the butcher, if you want some meat, is just a little ways north of here, next to the stand of a woman who usually has milk to sell."

Missy visited the fruit and vegetable stands first, buying a few carrots and bananas to put in her bag. She then headed to the milk merchant for a bottle. She even bought a few pieces of preserved meat, which the butcher wrapped very nicely for her. _This should cover us on our trip back to Alberta, or at least until I can restock in Payon_, she thought contently.

She found Blackthore, who had been perusing the armor that local merchants had to offer. "I know every town has a tool dealer like Alberta's, who pays zeny for items that are worthless to anyone else. Now that I've spent half of my zeny on food, I'd say that's a good place to go next."

Blackthore led her to a building on the outer edge of the central courtyard. Inside there were quite a few travelers making deals with the tool dealer as well as other travelers. When Missy was able to approach the man herself, she pulled out what few items she'd collected over the last couple of days. It wasn't as much as she used to collect from a few days of novice training, but she'd been doing less battling and more just traveling recently. The tool dealer exchanged her items for a small amount of zeny, and Missy walked back outside where Blackthore was sitting next to the fountain.

"Okay, enough shopping for today," she assured him.

He stood up, with his hands behind his back. "I have one more place I'd like to show you, but first, I have something for you." He pulled out a headband with an orange ribbon on top and held it out to her.

"You can't expect me to accept that," Missy protested. "You saved me in the woods, and you paid for lunch today. I already feel so indebted to you."

"It's a gift," he insisted. "You owe me nothing. Besides, I just traded for some thief's clothes a minute ago, and the guy was kind enough to throw this in for free. So don't worry about it." She let him put the headband in her hair, though she didn't really believe he'd gotten it for free.

"Thank you," she said, blushing again. What a contrast this boy was to Naolin. And how odd that she thought of Naolin in this moment. "So, where was this last place you wanted to take me?"

"Come on," he started walking north out of the courtyard, and Missy followed once again. He then turned left off of the street and started walking amongst the buildings and landscaped trees. He stopped in front of a large building with a huge statue of an open book above the doorway. Inside was exactly what Missy had expected to find: a library. Blackthore explained how the shelves contained, among other things, books about all of the currently known monsters in Rune-Midgard, and even a few fabled creatures.

"I read once about a creature called the Lord of Death that many legends have been written about, but has never been proven to exist. Supposedly, it is described as a man covered in armor from head to toe, sitting atop a giant white horse, while souls of the dead float around him."

Missy chuckled lightly at the obviously spooky voice Blackthore had adopted in an attempt to scare her.

He feigned hurt, then said sternly, "You laugh now, but maybe someday you'll see for yourself how scary the Lord of Death really is."

Missy only nodded, trying to keep a straight face, as she started pulling out a few books to look through. The library proved to contain many enthralling books, and before either she or Blackthore realized it, a few hours had passed. When Missy noticed how late in the afternoon it had gotten, she wondered if Naolin had returned from Izlude yet, and then wondered if he would be expecting to meet up with her again today. More likely, he'd be quite happy to be without her this evening. Even still, Missy was ready to leave the library, and Blackthore agreed.

They stepped outside into an unwelcome site; the sky was even grayer than when they'd last seen it, and the angry clouds were threatening to open up again.

"Hmm, where else in the city haven't we visited yet," Blackthore questioned himself out loud. "There's the trading post; a blacksmith works there who specializes in strengthening weapons and armor."

"I know of him," Missy said. "My father often advises customers to visit that blacksmith after they buy one of his weapons. I would be interested to see his shop."

Blackthore led her back out to the road on the north end of Prontera, then turned south. They didn't get far, however, before they ran into a small group of people standing together, who were blocking half of the road.

Blackthore and Missy stopped, mostly out of curiosity, wondering what was drawing in this slight crowd to a normally emptier area of the city. Missy noticed a few knights and a priestess, as well as some in clothing she didn't recognize. Most of them were focused on a man, whose back was to Missy and Blackthore, who was wearing a white and tan shirt and tan shorts. Out of nowhere, a monster Missy had never seen before appeared. It was rather small, with pinchers in the front and a tail that ended in a menacing point, which was raised high above its orange and green body.

Missy backed up a step; not knowing anything about this monster made her a little bit nervous, but she relaxed considerably when she heard a few of the strangers chuckle. One man, wearing a cape similar to the one she'd seen on a woman in Payon, sounded disappointed when he said, "Scorpion…" He then held up a plain brown staff and faced the scorpion as he charged up a spell. Blue light surrounded him for a few seconds, and as the spell finished casting, three icy blasts shot out of the sky and hit the scorpion, which died quickly.

"Okay, do another one," the priestess laughed. "Maybe we'll get something good."

Confused, Missy looked over at Blackthore. "What are they doing?"

Blackthore grinned. "Dead branches." Seeing that Missy still didn't understand, he continued. "They're branches with the ability to summon a random monster."

As soon as he finished saying this, a plant that looked like a small, dead, and almost even rotten, sunflower appeared and immediately started lunging at the man who'd killed the scorpion.

"Someone kill it, I can't cast," the man cried. The priestess held up a staff of her own, gripped it with both hands, and cast a short spell on him, enveloping him in a green aura.

"Thanks for the heal, Aliyah," he said, as the man in the tan outfit picked up a bow that had been on the ground next to him and started firing arrows at the plant monster. As he was shooting, a large, beautiful brown bird flew in and hit the plant head on, knocking it down.

More laughter from the group followed this, and one of the knights said, "At least a geographer is better than a scorpion."

Missy realized that the man who'd killed the geographer was a hunter. She'd heard of those whose closest friend was the falcon they commanded in battle. She could only assume that the man with the cape was a wizard, but she'd had limited contact with any class that didn't use one of her father's weapons.

The hunter was facing towards Missy and Blackthore now, and Missy watched as he took a twig and snapped it in half. Another monster appeared and was killed, this time a tall, green, human-like monster, with a bow of its own that it used to fire arrows at the priestess, Aliyah, while the knights rushed in to kill it.

Missy turned to Blackthore again. "Are we safe here?"

He shrugged. "They seem to have things under control. They're only opening one at a time, and they seem pretty capable of killing most monsters that could be summoned."

As if on cue, one of the knights complained, "This is boring, these monsters are pathetic. Let's crack open a bunch at the same time." Before anyone could really respond, he grabbed a handful of branches out of the hunter's bag and tossed half to the other knight. Simultaneously they each broke all of the branches they held, just as Aliyah groaned, "Oh no."


	5. Desperation

**Old Chapters: 16-18 (half)**

A huge mass of various monsters appeared, attacking different members of the party. The priestess, having an intimidating angry-looking blue rabbit hitting her constantly, started casting heals on the others, as well as herself. The knight who started the mess finished off a red bat, only to have a dark brown snake charge at him, knocking him back. "Evan!" the priestess shouted, casting a heal on him, followed by a spell that took her a few seconds to cast, and ended with the sound of a loud, deep bell ringing. 

"This is too much!" the hunter yelled while attacking an eerie, ashen girl floating above the ground, hanging from two wooden rods by some string. The creature was holding a small candelabra, which it occasionally swung at the hunter. The wizard started to cast a spell which seemed to target the entire area around the group, but was interrupted by what could only be described as a living suit of armor, with nothing but empty space where a face would be in the helmet. It ran up to the wizard and hit him hard with a huge, rusty-looking sword. The other knight ran over and put himself between the wizard and his attacker, and yelled, "Aliyah! Jacob is hurt bad!"

The priestess looked sad as she said, "I'm sorry. I'm out of energy."

Finishing off the pale monster assaulting him, the hunter turned and started shooting arrows at the rabbit that was wearing the priestess's life down. "Someone needs to go get help, now!"

Blackthore had by now already instinctively moved back and brought Missy with him. He was just about to suggest that they go find someone to help kill these monsters when a woman who Missy had not noticed before spoke up. "I'll go." She dodged a couple of attacks by what looked like an evil clown bouncing on a ball, and slammed it off its ball with a powerful double-attack with her dagger. From the woman's sleek figure and maroon form-fitting outfit, Missy recognized her as an assassin.

Before the woman could get away though, a scaly, dark green monster jumped into her path and swung a massive sword at her, slicing through her abdomen. The assassin fell to the ground, and Jacob, the wizard, holding a wound on his arm, cried, "Selena!" He ran over to her and knelt beside her.

Missy then glanced over at Blackthore, who nodded. "Come on."

As they turned to head south, knowing that southern Prontera was the most crowded, with no warning, the clouds let loose; rain began pouring down on the city. Over the noise of the downpour, Missy suddenly heard a loud snap. She looked at Blackthore. "What was that?"

He was looking down at his feet. "They must have dropped a branch when that knight was throwing them. But it's—" He stopped and looked at her with wide, frightened eyes.

"You broke it open," Missy moaned. Blackthore nodded and looked behind them, then swiftly grabbed her arm and started running. "What?" Missy tried to see what was behind them, and was soon sorry she did. An enormous white bear was stomping after them, grunting and snorting.

The two reached the fountain in the center of Prontera, and were surprised to find it mostly deserted. "Everyone's gone inside because of the rain!" Blackthore agonized.

Missy turned to see that while the bear had fallen behind, it was still coming, and getting close once again. "Come on! We have to keep going! Someone has to still be around." They continued south, and as they reached the wall around the inner part of Prontera, and an intersection of roads, they could see a number of people huddled together next to some of the buildings along the street, some standing under awnings to keep dry. And one lone person was walking up the middle of the street towards them. As they grew closer, Missy realized that she knew who it was.

"Naolin!" she called to him. The boy looked at her and recognized her, then started walking toward her.

Five feet away, he stopped short and pointed behind her, saying, "What is that?"

Missy turned around and couldn't stop a scream from escaping when she saw the bear right behind her now.

"Missy!" Naolin yelled as the bear brought up its paw to knock her down. Running up to her, he pushed her aside and held up a shield she hadn't noticed he was carrying. The bear struck the shield with great power, and as Naolin recoiled from the shock, Blackthore went around behind the bear and stabbed at it with his dagger. The bear roared deafeningly and turned to hit its attacker. Blackthore dodged the giant paw that came at him, and thrust his dagger into the bear again. With the bear's back to him now, Naolin drew his sword and raised it high above his head, striking the bear between its shoulder blades. The bear angrily turned to Naolin again and smacked him in the side of the head, knocking Naolin to the ground.

"Missy," he groaned, and she strained to hear him. "Run."

She turned to escape toward the buildings to the east, but halted quickly when she saw two people running towards her. It was a boy with green hair that was barely visible under a hat, and a girl with short blonde hair.

The girl, who Missy recognized as an acolyte, said, "Don't give up, we're here to help you."

Missy pointed at Naolin, lying on the ground behind her. "Can you heal him please?"

The acolyte nodded and held her hands out in front of her, casting the spell on him.

Blackthore, who had come to Naolin's side when he was knocked down, now helped him up, just in time for Naolin to shield another blow from the bear. Blackthore snuck another jab to the bear underneath Naolin's shield, then they both backed up to regroup a bit. The bear charged at Blackthore, who dodged it again, and Naolin then noticed the boy who'd come with the acolyte.

"A mage, great! Do you have any spells that this thing would be weak to?"

The mage replied with a shake of his head. "It's a sasquatch, and it's not weak to any elements. But my fire bolt should still be sufficient."

"Great! Go for it!"

The mage pulled a brown wand out of his robes and held it out with one hand, charging up the spell. While Blackthore kept the sasquatch occupied, dodging attacks quite skillfully, Naolin took the opportunity to use a skill of his own. He walked up behind the sasquatch, raised his sword high, and brought it down on the sasquatch's head with a blinding flash of light, effectively bashing it with the handle of his sword.

In the moment it took for the sasquatch to recover from the painful blow, the mage finished casting, and streaks of fire rained down on the giant white bear, engulfing it in flames. The sasquatch finally fell over, unmoving. Blackthore cheered and ran over to meet the two who'd helped them. Missy, who had stayed back with the acolyte, realized that some time during that battle, the rain had stopped. Blackthore and the mage, chatting excitedly about the fight they'd just won, walked over to where Missy was standing.

"Thank you both so much for helping," Missy said gratefully.

Blackthore nodded in agreement. "We were lucky you saw us."

The acolyte smiled widely. "I'm glad we were able to help. My name is Mikayla, and that's Julius McCloud," she pointed to the mage.

"My name's Missy Kay, this is Blackthore, and that," she pointed to the young swordsman who was now walking towards them as well, "That's Naolin."

"Thank you both very much," he repeated. "Without that heal, I would be dead right now.

"Oh, it was nothing," Mikayla gushed, letting out a nervous giggle.

"Well, we still need to find someone to help that party," Blackthore said.

"What party?" questioned Naolin.

"The people who started this mess with their dead branches."

Naolin's eyes widened in anticipation, and he started to head in the direction Blackthore had indicated.

"Wait!" Missy pleaded. "That sasquatch was bad enough. The monsters we saw up there were even too tough for people a lot more experienced than us. We need to find some others to help."

Blackthore nodded. "Now that it's stopped raining, we may have more luck. I suggest we split up."

Mikayla suddenly announced, "Oh, that's a great idea! Naolin, you come with me this way, the others can go that way." She started backing up toward the west, gesturing for the swordsman to follow her.

Missy glanced over at Julius to see him roll his eyes, then watched as his expression turned to surprise and panic.

"Mikayla, stop!" he shouted.

Missy then saw what terrified the mage so much. A tall, skinny figure, no more than just a tree trunk with eyes and a mouthful of large, wooden teeth, stood directly behind her. Slightly confused, Missy wondered aloud, "What is that thing?"

Naolin gasped, "Greatest General!" Two long, thin arms reached up from either side of the "trunk", surrounding the acolyte.

Hearing Naolin's words, Mikayla's face turned white, and before anyone could react, she spun around. Seeing the creature behind her, she screamed—a long, piercing wail that ended suddenly with a sickening thud, as the greatest general clapped both hands together around her skull. She slumped to the ground lifelessly, and Julius cried out mournfully. In anger and fear, he thrust his wand out and threw a wall of fire up around the monster.

Unfortunately, the fire did not have the effect he'd hoped for. The greatest general was untouched by the flames, and now focused its eyes on its next target. It did not move very quickly, but it started after Julius, scraping along the ground with an ear-wrenching sound. Naolin and Blackthore looked at each other, both frantically deciding silently if they could take on this new menace.

Missy had already crept over to where Mikayla lay, dejected to find her face pale and frozen. Julius stepped back a few feet, putting a good deal of distance between himself and the slow-moving monster, and started casting a spell, blue light shining all around him. With no words exchanged, both boys seemed to know what they had to do; at least try to slow the monster down, giving Julius enough time to cast. Turning towards the greatest general now, Naolin and Blackthore charged at it for all they were worth, sword and dagger drawn. In a horrifying moment, the greatest general threw one boy aside, and then the other.

"No!" Missy screamed, watching both of her new friends fall violently to the hard pavement. They'd accomplished their goal, however, and the mage finished his cast, firing multiple arctic blasts at the creature. It recoiled, but did not fall over. The attack only seemed to strengthen its determination, and it refocused on Julius.

All color drained from his face as he realized he had no more help, no more distractions. He turned and headed toward the southern wall of Prontera, though being careful not to lose the monster's attention. If any of the others were still alive, he knew he was better off with this monster after him than they were. Each time he felt he was far enough ahead, he turned and fired a quick, weaker cast of his cold bolt, hoping that eventually the monster would fall.

As the greatest general followed Julius out of sight down the street, Missy rushed over to Naolin, who had fallen closest to her. She was relieved to find that he was still alive, and in fact even trying to sit up. She knelt down and offered him her hand, but he waved her away.

"I'm okay. Go check on him," he pointed toward Blackthore. Knowing from his painful groans that he was not likely "okay", Missy just sighed and hurried over to her other friend, kneeling next to him.

He was breathing, though didn't seem conscious. She called his name a few times and put her hand under his head to lift it up a bit. When she felt the blood, she almost recoiled, but feared dropping his already wounded head against the pavement. She heard Naolin coughing behind her and felt the thick, warm liquid begin to drip from her hand. Tears started to fall from her eyes as she looked frantically at the empty street around her. _What do I do?!_


	6. Aftermath

**Old chapters: 18 (half)-20**

Outside of the southern wall of Prontera, a beautiful, dark-complexioned woman with long, dark hair sat alone on the cold, wet ground. Her eyes were closed and her head was bowed; she was resting after a long day of training deep in the forest west of the city. Her head jerked up suddenly, as if she'd heard a sound, and she looked behind her, expecting to see someone, or perhaps something. There was, however, nothing behind her, or anywhere around her. In the distance, she could hear a poring hopping around, but such a creature was of no concern to her now. Realizing how dark it was getting, she decided to head into town to buy some supplies and maybe find a room for the night. As she stood up and turned to head through the doorway into Prontera, she heard a twig snap behind her and turned sharply, her cape whipping behind her with the movement. Seeing nothing once again, she sighed and held her hands up. "Sight," she whispered. A bright orange light raced in a circle around her, and immediately revealed a man in mid tiptoe. He had long blue hair that was pulled back in a ponytail, and wore an open red shirt and tight brown pants.

"Ashton!" the woman yelled, hitting him in the chest.

"Ow! That hurt," he complained, rubbing his chest, though laughing at the same time.

"You should know better than to creep up on someone who's been out fighting high orcs all day. Those things have a way of sneaking up on you."

Ashton just kept laughing, his gray eyes twinkling in the dying light. He walked past her and headed into Prontera then, saying, "I hope the pub is still open, I'm starving."

The woman shook her head and went to follow Ashton, quickening her pace when she heard him call, "Hallee! C'mere, quick!"

She followed her friend through the doorway and saw something rather unusual—a young mage being followed by a greatest general. She would have even chuckled at the sight, if it hadn't been for the genuine look of terror on the boy's face. What made the scene even more curious was the fact that the mage kept stopping every few feet and looking back, as if to make sure the monster was still following him.

When he was close enough to Hallee and Ashton to be heard, he called for help. Hallee responded quickly by holding up a tall, white wand with a skull carved in the top and hitting it on the ground, shooting shards of ice along the street straight at the greatest general. When the trail of ice reached it, the monster quickly became frozen in a mountain of ice.

As soon as she was sure the greatest general was fully stationary, Hallee struck her wand on the ground again, charging up a longer spell while white light surrounded her. As she cast, Ashton went over to Julius to find out what was going on.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Julius shook his head and looked at Hallee with uncertainty in his eyes. Ashton noticed this and waved his hand submissively. "Don't worry about her, she'll finish that thing off with one _Jupitel Thunder_."

As Julius and Ashton watched, Hallee's cast finished with a huge ball of electricity hovering in front of her, then hummed as it flew at her target, pushing the greatest general far back. When the electricity dissipated, the monster broke in half and fell to the ground in two pieces. Julius breathed a sigh of relief and remarked, "She is a strong wizard."

Ashton nodded and smiled. "She's incredible, isn't she?"

"Don't pretend you're not just as strong," Hallee said, coming over to join them.

Julius knew there was no time for small talk. "Thank you for killing that thing for me. Please, do you mind helping some others?"

"Others?" echoed Ashton.

"Of course," Hallee responded. "Whatever we can do to help, just take us wherever we need to be."

Julius led them north on the road and they quickly reached the intersection where the battle with the sasquatch had taken place. Julius was happy to find that Missy wasn't the only one who was left alive, as he returned to find her and Naolin both crouching near Blackthore, who wasn't moving, but appeared to also be alive. Seeing his good friend's motionless body a few yards away, and remembering the horrible sound he'd heard when that monster had hit her, Julius felt ill.

"Are these the others you wanted us to help?" Hallee questioned. "I'm afraid they need more than we can do for them, they need a priest."

Missy heard the new voice and looked up. "No, there are others besides us that need help. A group, they were opening dead branches. There were too many, they needed people to help; it's been so long now though, they could have killed them all…or they could be dead themselves." She stood up and looked down at Blackthore. "We told them we'd find someone…"

Ashton looked at Hallee. "Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go see if there are any monsters left to kill."

Hallee took pity on this group of young strangers. "Okay, but we're taking that boy with us," she pointed at Blackthore. "If there is a priest to be found, we'll have him healed." She looked firmly at Ashton, stopping any protest he might have had. He walked over and picked up the young thief carefully, then waited for a direction to head in.

"Thank you so much," Missy cried. "Last time we saw them, they were past the fountain, north of here. Come on, I'll show you."

"No, you'll stay here." Ashton was firm on that point. "We don't need you to end up like him or…well, her." He gestured toward the acolyte's body.

Hallee nodded, then turned to Julius and handed him a dried-up leaf. "Take this. It is a yggdrasil leaf; it will help the acolyte."

Julius thanked her profusely for everything she'd done to help him, and she and Ashton made their way north in the light of the streetlamps. Julius ran over to Mikayla, joined by both Missy and Naolin. The mage knelt next to the body and crushed the dry leaf between his hands, letting the pieces fall onto the lifeless face. The fragments of the leaf almost seemed to melt into her skin and brought color back into her face. After about ten seconds, the leaf took full effect, and Mikayla's eyes shot open as she gasped. Julius and Naolin helped Mikayla sit up, though she seemed very shaky.

"Is she going to be okay?" Naolin wondered.

"I've heard it's always hardest the first time, but you get used to it," Julius replied.

"What, you mean dying? Wow, you think it's hard the first time?" Missy asked incredulously. "And how on earth do you get used to that?!" She let out an exasperated sigh, then pulled Naolin out of the way so she could sit next to Mikayla. "How are you feeling, Mikayla?"

The acolyte looked at her and smiled weakly. "I'm alive. I can't complain too much."

"You're alive, but not much more than that," Julius explained. "As soon as you feel up to it, you really need to heal yourself."

Naolin suddenly stood up and said, "Now that everyone's okay, I think I'm going to go get a room and head in for the night."

Missy stood up too, "Are you sure you're okay? You took quite a hit. Maybe you should wait until we can get you—"

He cut her off quickly. "I'll be fine, I just need some rest." He turned sharply and headed in the direction of the inn, but Missy stopped him again.

Pointing at his left shoulder, she warned him, "Naolin, your shoulder – it's bleeding pretty badly. That fight must have irritated your wound from the fire. Please, let me help you find someone to take care of it."

Naolin brought his right hand up to hold the shoulder, wincing from the pain. "Don't worry about it, it'll heal again."

Missy scowled and reluctantly gave up, but not before digging in her bag for a few items to give him. "At least take these."

He took the clean bandage and herbs she handed him, questioning, "You always carry bandages around with you?"

She shrugged. "Some guy in the Prontera castle gave it to me today. He said I might want to learn how to use first aid while I was in town. I think he was a little crazy. Just make sure you clean that wound up right."

* * *

Naolin grunted an affirmative, then walked away. Keeping his head down, he hurried toward the inn. In truth, his shoulder was in great pain, and the whole rest of his body ached as well. _Why am I so harsh to her? She's just trying to help, though I don't need help from some novice. _He reached the inn, paid for a night, and went up to his room. He had a hard time admitting it to himself, but he knew that this novice intrigued him a little. _Even still, no point getting close; once we get back to Alberta, I'll get my sword and be gone for good. I'm sure she'll be less than choked up; I don't exactly treat her pleasantly._ He looked at the bandages and herbs she'd given him, and wondered, _Why would she want to help me? My whole way of life is to be alone; I don't need her help._ He pushed the thoughts out of his mind and concentrated on cleaning his shoulder and wrapping it, cringing from the pain, or perhaps from the knowledge of what this pain meant._ I'm not strong enough._

* * *

After Naolin walked away, Missy groaned and looked back toward Julius and Mikayla. "Do you guys live here, or are you staying at the inn?"

Julius answered for both of them. "I live in Prontera; Mikayla's visiting from Al De Baran, staying at the inn."

"You'll make sure she gets to her room okay, right?" When Julius nodded, Missy explained, "If you guys are okay here, I think I'm going to head back up north and see how everything turned out."

Mikayla pleaded, "Don't go back up there, it could be dangerous."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful. First sign of a monster, I'll run into a building somewhere. Besides, I'm sure by now everything's taken care of." She said a quick goodbye and jogged north. After she passed the fountain, she slowed down, knowing she was close to where the party had been. The street this far north was dark at night, no streetlamps to light up the night. Even in the dark, she could see there was no one around when she reached the spot she remembered them being in. _Must be all over,_ she thought. _I guess that means they managed to kill all the monsters they summoned._

A small object blowing across the street caught Missy's eye in the overcast moonlight, and she walked after it cautiously. It was a piece of paper, and she picked it up to see a drawing of a smokie, the raccoon monster that she'd seen pictures of before. "Smokie…card?" she questioned curiously. She knew a lot of monsters dropped their card when they died sometimes, though she was still unclear on the purpose of such cards. She decided to put it in her bag and find out later what it was for. For now though, she was starting to feel pretty tired herself, and just wanted to go back to her room and go to bed.

Walking past the fountain once more, she turned west toward the inn, and stopped suddenly when she heard talking and laughter coming from the other direction. More than one of the voices sounded familiar, so out of curiosity, she turned around and headed toward the sound. Sitting on the ground in a circle talking were Hallee and Ashton, as well as the wizard, assassin, and hunter from the group who had unleashed the dead branches.


	7. Heading Home

**Old chapters: 21-23 (most)**

Hallee was the first to notice her. "Hey, there she is!" The other four all turned and looked at her.

"Eh…hi," Missy greeted them nervously.

"Here, sit down," the wizard offered, scooting closer to the assassin to make room between him and Hallee. Missy did so, and introductions were made all around. She knew Jacob and Selena's names from earlier, and learned Hallee's, Ashton's, and Parker, the hunter's, names for the first time now. "I saw you earlier with that boy," Jacob observed.

"Yeah, Blackthore. Is he okay now?"

Jacob nodded. "Our priestess healed him. He's probably back at the inn now."

"We really owe you for sending these two to help us," Selena spoke up. "We'd killed off all but a few strong monsters, but we'd all gotten pretty worn down too. If it weren't for Hallee's _Storm Gust_, they'd have probably overtaken us."

"I'm glad everything turned out okay," Missy said sincerely.

"If there's anything we can do for you, just let us know," Jacob offered.

Missy thought of the card she'd just picked up and retrieved it from her bag. "Actually, maybe you can help me with something right now. I found this earlier. I'm guessing it's a smokie card, but can you tell me what it does?"

Ashton stood up. "I can do better than that; I can show you." He disappeared in a flash of light, and soon they heard him laughing behind Hallee and Missy.

"Ashton!" Hallee yelled, looking in the direction of the laughter.

Appearing right next to her and making her jump, he replied, "Yes, m'dear?"

Hallee groaned and turned to Missy. "That card, you slip it into an accessory, and while you're wearing it, you can use the thief's hiding ability. Just ignore Ashton though; being able to walk while you're hidden is a skill only rogues have."

Missy was starting to understand now, and she definitely realized how helpful it would be to have the ability to hide like Blackthore had done in the woods yesterday. Now all she needed was an accessory to put it in. "An accessory…like the belts that I've heard about that are only sold by the armor dealer here in Prontera?"

"Or like this," Parker spoke for the first time since she sat down. He was holding a small, metallic blue object. "Here, hand me the card." Missy obliged, and watched as he slid it into a flat, wide opening in the object. "This is a clip; you can hook it onto your clothing somewhere." He handed the clip to her, saying, "Try it out."

Missy took the clip, attached it to the bottom of her shirt, and concentrated. A bright light burst around her, and her body felt tingly, as though it were asleep. Her new friends cheered and clapped, and she knew she'd successfully disappeared. Just as Hallee had said, she could not walk, or really move much at all. But as she focused on reappearing, she had a feeling this new ability would be useful someday.

Feeling slightly embarrassed, she handed the clip back to the hunter, explaining, "I don't know how to get the card back out."

He chuckled and shook his head. "You can't take a card back out of an item."

Confused, Missy wasn't sure what he was expecting, and she blushed, feeling even more embarrassed now.

"It's yours," he stated simply. "Take it as a token of our gratitude, and let it help you so that some day you grow strong enough to fight along side us."

Though feeling that a simple thank you was not near enough for such a gift, Missy could think of nothing else to say.

Missy stayed and chatted with her new friends for a time, but soon had to say goodnight and head back to the inn. Feeling the exhaustion again, she went straight to her bed and removed her outer garments, hanging them on the bedpost to air out overnight. Slipping into bed in her undergarments, she was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, glad for a bed tonight.

* * *

Early the next morning, Missy was less than delighted to wake up to the sound of rain beating against her window. "Couldn't my first trip to Prontera at least have been sunny?" She took a quick bath, pleased that at least she was able to get a warm bath on this chilly, gloomy morning. Dressing hastily, she picked up her bag which was full again with the food she'd bought yesterday, and on top, her new clip. She went downstairs to the lobby and was stopped by the clerk on her way out.

"Miss, I have a message for you from a young man named Blackthore. He wanted you to know he'd be at the pub for breakfast if you wanted to join him."

"Thank you. Can you tell me if Naolin has left yet this morning?"

"Not that I've seen, Miss. I actually have the same message to give him from Blackthore."

"Could you add to that for me; tell him that if we're not at the pub anymore, we'll be south of town."

"Of course, Miss."

Missy thanked the clerk and headed to the pub for breakfast. She met Blackthore outside and they had another nice meal together, after which they headed out of Prontera to the south to wait for Naolin.

The rain had once again died down to a mere drizzle, and as they neared the southern wall, Blackthore inquired, "How do you know that guy, anyway? You two didn't really act like friends or anything yesterday. At least, he didn't."

"We're not really; I only just met him yesterday in Payon." As they reached the field south of Prontera, they discovered Naolin already there. To both boys Missy said, "I just realized in all the chaos last night, you two didn't get proper introductions. Naolin helped me reach Prontera after I lost my map during that encounter in the woods yesterday. And Naolin, Blackthore is the thief I told you about who saved me from the wolves yesterday."

Both boys nodded in acknowledgment at the other. The rather uncomfortable silence that followed was interrupted by a girl screaming. "Ahhhh! Get away from me! Leave me alone!"

They all turned to see that it was Mikayla, and she was quite distressed as she ran towards them. Naolin and Blackthore both drew their weapons instinctively. Soon they saw the cause of her anguish though, and relaxed. Naolin started laughing lightly, as Missy had only seen him do twice. It was that poring. _I guess she doesn't like little pink blobs of goo._ Missy knelt down and held out a bottle of apple juice she'd brought from breakfast. The poring hopped over to her quickly at the chance of food, swallowing up the juice, bottle and all.

Mikayla clung to Naolin, whimpering. When she saw Missy feeding it, she protested. "What are you doing? Kill it," she begged Naolin.

Naolin just shook his head. Missy objected, "There's no need to kill it, it's not harming anyone."

The acolyte gave a, "Hmph," and resigned the issue.

"So, Missy, if you're going to be sticking around here again today, I thought maybe we could—"

"She's not," Naolin quickly cut Blackthore off. "We're going back to Alberta today; we should actually be leaving very soon."

"I don't believe I was talking to you," Blackthore retorted, turning then to face Missy solely. "You have to go back already?"

Missy nodded, though still a bit puzzled by the exchange between him and Naolin just now. "I am in the process of my merchant quest. I need to return to Alberta as soon as I can to complete it and become a merchant."

"Oh, ok then. I'm sure we can just plan to meet up another time."

Naolin changed the subject quickly, turning to Mikayla who still had a hold on his arm. "Where's Julius this morning?"

Mikayla giggled, "He went to the Library of Prontera – he was so embarrassed about using a fire spell on that greatest general last night. He said he needed to study more. And by the way, if you guys need to go to Alberta, I can make you a warp portal to Payon. It'll get you closer at least."

"We would appreciate that," Naolin replied. Looking at Missy, he asked, "You ready to go then?"

"Well, I would like to say goodbye to Julius first; after his help last night, it'd seem rude not to."

Mikayla snickered again. "You wouldn't be able to get his attention. When he's buried in his books, the world is dead to him."

"We probably should get to Payon as quickly as possible anyway, Missy. Remember, we'll need to find someone strong enough to escort us the rest of the way anyway."

Missy sighed. "You're right, of course. Mikayla, please at least give him our thanks again, and tell him goodbye for us."

"Of course," Mikayla smiled. "I'm sure he'll be sorry he missed you." Digging into a small bag of her own, she pulled out a small, blue gemstone. "So are you two ready for that warp now?"

Naolin looked at Missy, who nodded, and Mikayla uttered a few words that caused the gem to disappear from her hand. A small, bright, swirling light materialized on the ground in front of her and expanded until it was about four feet across. And with the light came a constant high-pitched whining sound.

Naolin walked straight into the portal without a look back. Missy said a quick goodbye to both of her new friends, then followed Naolin in.

After a few hours in Payon, they'd had no luck finding someone who was able to escort them to Alberta. Naolin was asking around with people he knew, while Missy posted a message up on the central bulletin board. At first, Missy stayed close to the board, and therefore the center of town, wanting to make sure she could be found easily, whether by Naolin or by someone answering her request on the board. The poring, having even followed them through the portal, sat near her most of the time, now and then hopping around a bit. Missy ignored the odd looks she got from people, knowing full well how abnormal it was for this creature to be in town. She started getting restless as it neared noon, anxious to get back home to meet with the merchant guild leader before he went home for the night. She was also starting to get a little hungry, and knowing that Naolin hadn't eaten breakfast, imagined that he was quite famished himself.

She decided to try to find him and at least offer him some lunch. A half hour of searching yielded no results, and she eventually returned to the center of town. She was surprised to find Naolin there waiting for her, with a beautiful woman in acolyte robes. Her long, blue hair framed her face, and Missy could see she was number of years older than herself.

The girl greeted Missy, and Naolin turned to notice her now. "So you're here finally. I thought maybe you'd started off for Alberta by yourself." He chuckled at the thought, apparently finding it very amusing.

The acolyte standing with him frowned slightly at him, not finding the humor in his joke. Looking at Missy again, she introduced herself. "I am Lena Isabelle, Missy. Your friend has asked for my assistance to get you home safely. The woods are unsafe as long as the wolves roam in the daylight."

"Thank you. The help is greatly appreciated." Lena nodded slightly, and Missy suggested, "I thought we could eat lunch before we head out. I know you did not get breakfast, Naolin."

He responded with a sharp shake of his head. "We can eat on the way. We really should leave as soon as possible."

"This is not a good idea," Lena objected. "While the path we are heading on is safer than the forest currently, the monsters we will encounter will still be quite strong. Distractions could be costly. You should have lunch now."

Naolin shrugged and sat down right where he was. Missy pulled some food from her bag once again and the three of them ate a quick lunch. Once they were finished, Naolin led the way to the southeastern corner of Payon.

"I think we have company," Lena observed, looking down at their feet.

Naolin laughed once again at the poring. "That's Missy's new friend. It's been following us for a few days now."

Missy could only shrug, and Lena chuckled. "That is just the strangest thing…"

The group then came to a small wooden archway, which they walked through, and were now in an open stretch of grass and a few trees. To the north, Missy could see some hills and cliffs; however, the group headed east now. Missy couldn't help but feel a bit nervous, not knowing much about her surroundings or what she would see.


	8. Beanbag

_A/N: I got a little overzealous in deleting the old chapters and forgot I needed this one still, so I promise I didn't mean to make it look like it's a new chapter for an already finished story._**  
**

**Old chapters: 23 (some)-26**

Lena almost seemed to sense her anxiety, and she looked over and smiled reassuringly. "Do not worry, nothing here is dangerous." In fact, all Missy could even see were the same docile creatures she was used to seeing roaming in the fields around Alberta. "The poison spores live further south of here; they prefer dark, dank caves, or muggy swamps." 

"Poison spores, huh? Sounds…fun."

Lena laughed lightly. "We'll see." After a pause, "So, Missy, what business do you have in Alberta? Looking to join the merchant guild?"

Missy nodded, explaining briefly her quest for the guild leader so far. Lena also mentioned Missy's rather obvious age difference from most novices, and Missy told her the same as she'd told Naolin.

Soon enough, they'd reached the edge of the field they'd been walking through, and were standing on the edge of a wide expanse of forested marshland. Missy could see pools of water surrounded by dense foliage and tall trees. From where they were standing, she could also see a path of gravel that someone had obviously taken great care to create, and it seemed to go straight into the middle of the swamp.

There, Lena stopped and addressed the other two. "Before we go in, let me point out that the poison spores are the only monsters in there that are aggressive towards humans. Do not attack any other creature that you see, because most of them are even stronger than the spores we will be facing."

Naolin added confidently, "Missy, just stick close to me, and you will be okay." He then headed onto the path, into the swamp. Lena and Missy followed closely, and Missy was surprised when she suddenly felt lighter; her legs almost seemed to move faster.

Noticing her puzzled look, Lena explained, "I have cast _Increase Agility_ on all of us. It allows us to move faster, not to mention dodge better." Missy watched as Lena pressed her hands together and mumbled something to herself. Instantly, an array of beautiful, multi-colored lights circled Lena's head for a moment. She then repeated the action and the same bright lights chased around Naolin's head. "_Blessing_ will make my healing power stronger; for Naolin it will increase his attack power and accuracy."

A few feet ahead of them, Naolin looked back and whispered loudly, "Do you guys want to draw every spore in the area to us?"

Missy was surprised to hear Lena stifle a giggle. "Are you afraid you will not be able to handle them? You seemed pretty sure of yourself a few minutes ago."

Naolin blinked at her a few times, then turned and faced forward with no response. Missy and Lena looked at each other and laughed quietly.

The three walked in silence for a while. Eventually, the path led them by a large boulder that Lena said was about halfway through the swamp.

Slowing as he went by the rock, Naolin mused, "I wonder why we haven't run into any poison spores yet."

"I hate to think you made this trip with us for nothing, Lena," Missy said apologetically.

"Oh, it is alright. I was happy to help. That is why I became an acolyte in the first place."

"What will you do when we reach Alberta? There's certainly no need for you to wait around for a return trip with us; I have no idea when I'll be leaving my hometown again, with my father being so weak and all."

"What about your friend there? Will he be returning to Payon or staying in Alberta with you for a while?"

Missy couldn't help but snicker. "We're not exactly friends." She quietly told Lena of Naolin's reasoning behind helping her, in the hopes of receiving a sword as a reward. "I'll make sure he gets what he wants, after all, he did help me a great deal. After that, I would assume he'd be leaving Alberta as quickly as possible."

"I guess I will ask him if he'd like my help for the return trip once we have reached Alberta then."

Missy and Lena both realized how far behind Naolin they'd fallen when they suddenly noticed him standing with his sword drawn, with his head turned as if he were listening for something. Both girls hurried up to him, wanting to hear what might have alerted the young swordsman. They noticed it right away, the sounds of a struggle. But no sooner did they first hear it, then it stopped, ending with a long, dying wail.

Then there were voices. "I think that was the last spore."

"Good, I really need to get back to Payon to restock. I think the trail has to be around here somewhere."

Naolin was just sheathing his sword when two young men emerged from the thick foliage and stopped when they saw the group standing on the path. Quick greetings were exchanged, but the two strangers quickly went on their way in the opposite direction of Missy's group.

As they continued walking, Naolin guessed, "Suppose that's why we've yet to see any spores ourselves."

"Fine by me," Missy was relieved really. She didn't doubt Naolin's and Lena's abilities to kill these spores, she just worried that it wouldn't take one spore long to hurt her pretty badly before they could get it off of her. As it turned out, there were more humans than spores in the swamp that day. Naolin guessed it was due to the fact that it was currently the only usable path between towns.

"I only wish I'd thought about that sooner, before dragging you through this place with us, Lena."

Before Lena could respond, a dull purple-colored creature jumped in front of Naolin. It was essentially a huge mushroom, whose face was on its stump. It appeared to be smiling. Without hesitation, it attacked him, basically head butting him in the stomach. Naolin reacted by pulling out his sword and slicing at the spore. Missy started backing up instinctively, but remembered what he'd said about sticking close. The last thing she wanted to do was attract more for them to fight.

As it turned out though, she didn't have to worry too much about that. Lena was stronger than Missy had guessed. While Naolin fought the spore with his sword, Lena stood back and, with her arms straight at her side, closed her eyes while a bright, white light swirled around her. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and thrust her arms forward, and Missy shielded her eyes as a bright flash of light went off, and instantly the group heard the same dying wail they'd heard before. The poison spore was dead.

"That's one strong _Holy Light_ you've got there," Naolin said, clearly impressed, though clearly trying to mask it. As the three continued on, Missy noticed that Naolin limped a little, but Lena cast one more spell, what Missy was already starting to recognize as a healing spell, and he was walking straight again. He muttered a quiet thanks to Lena, and she nodded in reply.

Missy was surprised when the path ended not long later and they stepped out of the swamp, onto firmer soil. Drier too, apparently it had not rained this side of Payon, like it had all day in Prontera. And better yet, she was now back in familiar territory. Before her now was the field west of Alberta where she'd spent so much of her life, from playing with her friends when she was younger, to training after she became a novice.

Lena was the first to speak once they emerged. "I am pleased the trip went so well." Missy started to apologize again for dragging the acolyte along, but the older girl simply held up her hand. "It was no problem. It will not take me long to return to Payon." Lena then turned to Naolin. "I'm sorry, I did not know if you would be going back to Payon too, or if you were planning to stay in Alberta for a while."

Naolin feigned a thoughtful look, which Missy had almost expected, then said, "I think I'll stay with Missy for now, make sure she gets home okay. Besides, I've never actually been to Alberta. It'll be nice to see a new town."

Lena glanced at Missy knowingly, then said, "Okay, I will be on my way then. Goodbye, Missy, Naolin. I hope we meet again someday." Missy said goodbye to Lena, and Naolin simply waved.

Without a word, Missy and Naolin continued on toward town. As they grew closer, Missy quickened her pace, knowing there couldn't be much time left before the merchant guild leader would go home for the night.

Once they reached town, Missy decided to quicken Naolin's escape. "Come, I'll introduce you to my father. After all, you cannot come to Alberta and not meet Bramen."

Naolin flashed her a smile. "I would love to."

_Look how nice he is now,_ Missy thought, holding back a groan, leading the way to her house. Back at home, Missy quickly introduced her parents to Naolin, graciously telling her father that perhaps a slight reward would be in store for the boy who'd so generously helped her on her journey. Naolin acted appropriately surprised by the offer, and accepted his beautiful new fire tsurugi cheerfully. Missy also thanked him for all he'd done, and said good bye, and essentially, good life.

With a promise to her parents of details to come, Missy hurried off to the merchant guild house, eager to end her time as a novice and start her life as a merchant.

A half hour later, Missy walked back out into the dying sunlight. She had so much on her mind now, so much to remember that the merchant guild members had just told her, and so much to learn. She knew she'd promised her parents a full account of her trip, but she wanted so badly to start training. She didn't get very far before seeing something that made her stop. It was Naolin, sitting on a bench just outside the building. She'd assumed he'd be long gone, out killing things with his new toy, or on his way back to Payon. Even possibly at the Alberta inn for the night, before heading out tomorrow. But there he sat, with that poring at his feet. She'd forgotten about the poring in all the excitement of getting back to Alberta, but here it was with Naolin, who was feeding it grapes, one at a time.

"Hi," Missy walked up to him, feeling more than uncomfortable in her new outfit.

Naolin jumped up and turned to face her, blushing a little. "Hey, Missy…I was just—I mean…the beanbag was begging for some, I couldn't help but…"

_So cute_, she thought. _He's the one who told me that if I just ignored it and didn't feed it anymore, it'd eventually leave_. Now here he was, giving it grapes.

"That's the third time you called it that," Missy observed. "Maybe I should just let it come with me…it'll be my pet Beanbag."

Naolin chuckled softly, then noticed her new look. "So, you've become a merchant, I see."

She nodded, squirming a little. "Yeah, but I do so hate the clothes. They're uncomfortable, and this bag makes me look pregnant." Missy indicated the large, pink bag she'd just received, that was hanging around her neck and resting on her stomach.

He looked at her for a few seconds, turned his head to the side, and said, "I think you look cute."

Missy was taken aback; never would she have expected a compliment like that from this boy. Seeming embarrassed by his own comment, he spoke quickly. "Anyway, I'm only here because I feel like I owe you more for this," he put his hand on the hilt of his new sword that was hanging at his side. "I thought maybe you'd like to come with me for a bit; I can help you for now, maybe help you become as strong as I am."

Missy had to contemplate that offer for a moment. He was still here, even after getting his sword. That was something at least. Unlike before though, Missy couldn't really see a reason for Naolin wanting to help. But as rude as he acted, Missy had seen tiny glimpses of something else over the last few days.

"Well, if you don't want my help, just say so. But you're passing up a huge opportunity."

"You have to give me a few minutes to decide if I really want to live with that attitude any longer."

"You don't. But it'll be worth it."

"We'll see," she muttered, reaching into her bag as she turned to head out to the field during what little bit was left of the day. She pulled out a piece of carrot she'd broken off and dropped it on the floor, ensuring that the poring, _Beanbag_, would follow her. _Somehow I think I'm going to regret this decision_, she thought, unsure of which new traveling companion she meant it about most.

**END**


End file.
